LG has dumped Chris Oxspring and signed Rick Bauer. I'm guessing we'll see Rick used to shore up the back end of the LG bullpen.
It sounds like the KBO is going to step up drug testing for foreign ballplayers. What's not mentioned in the article is testing for domestic players. If you're going to test the foreign guys, you might as well test the locals as well. The money quote is from Hanwha manager Kim In-sik, "There is an obligation to test foreigners for drugs." I hope he talked to Brad Thomas and Victor Diaz before making this announcement. Most of this drug paranoia comes from the fact that Danny Rios was caught using in Japan after he had a historic season with the Doosan Bears. I thought it was pretty obvious he was on something all along, but no one seemed to care when he was rattling off W after W and posting an a sub-3.00 ERA.
On to the roundup...
SK 2, LG 1
W - Goh Hyo-joon (3-2), L - Bong Jung-geun (3-4), S - Chae Byeong-yeong (2)
This was a far cry from last night's effort. Both teams recieved quality starts from their starting pitchers, but SK's Goh was a little better than LG's Bong. Goh tossed 7 innings(108 pitches, 65 strikes) of 1-run baseball. He allowed 4 hits and 4 walks while striking out 7. LG's only run came on a SAC fly by outfielder Lee Jin-yeong in the 6th inning. LG ace Bong Jung-geun pitched well enough to win, but just didn't get any help from the LG offense. I guess the bats were tired from that 8 run rally yesterday. Bong threw 8 solid innings(124 pitches, 82 strikes) in his start. He allowed 2 runs on 7 hits and 1 walk while striking out 7. SK broke a 1-1 tie in the 7th inning thanks to a solo homer from infielder Mo Chang-min. SK reliever Chae Byeong-yeong struck out the final batter of the game to record the vulture save. I was surprised to see none of the bad blood from Tuesday night spill over into last night's game. No one was spiked or drilled.
Doosan 11, Seoul Heroes 4
W - Lee Jae-woo (2-1), L - Kim Seong-hyeon (1-2)
This game was actually tied at 3 in the 7th inning, but Doosan mounted an 8-run rally to take an 11-3 lead. The Heroes bullpen essentially threw batting practice. 4 pitchers were needed to record 3 outs and 2 of them didn't record any. Lee Sang-yeol and Shin Cheol-in both faced 2 batters and allowed both of them to reach base. 3rd baseman Kim Dong-joo and 2nd baseman Kim Jae-ho both hit key RBI doubles to bust the inning open. Doosan catcher Choi Seung-hwan chose to get a combo meal last night. He homered and stole a base. I can't remember the last time a KBO catcher did that in the same game. Choi finished 2-2 with 2 walks, 1 RBI and 3 runs scored. Heroes starting pitcher Ma Il-yeong posted his first adequate start in weeks. Ma tossed 5 2/3 innings(90 pitches, 54 strikes) allowing 3 runs on 6 hits and 3 walks. He only managed 1 strikeout. That's troubling.
KIA 10, Hanwha 8
W - Yoo Dong-hoon (2-2), L - Yoon Gyu-jin (0-3), S- Yoon Seok-min (5)
This was your typical KBO meatgrinder game. I can't believe the two teams only combined to use 9 pitchers. This should have been a minimum 12 pitcher game by KBO standards. This game was all about offense. Both starting pitchers posted numbers to ugly to write about. KIA shortstop Lee Jong-beom and 3rd baseman Kim Sang-hyeon both posted 3 RBI games. KIA leapt out to an early 9-3 lead, but allowed Hanwha to get back into it with a 4-run rally in the 5th inning. The inning started with two consecutive fielding errors. That's a great sign that you're team is about to give up 4 runs. 1st baseman Hong Se-hwan let a throw bounce off his glove and 3rd baseman Kim Sang-hyeon allowed a ball to roll between his legs. The look on Kim's face was absolutely priceless. Immeadiately after the errors, Kim Tae-wan clubbed a double to score both runs. The next batter, catcher Lee Do-hyeong, hit a two-run bomb to left just to make sure that KIA paid for the errors. Yoon Seok-min recorded another save, but he allowed a solo homer to Lee Beom-ho in the 9th. Lee is uncanny, if Hanwha has a lead or a deficit in the late innings, he's guaranteed to hit a meaningless homerun.
Lotte 6, Samsung 5
W - Lee Jeong-hoon (1-1), L - Jeong Hyeon-wook (1-2)
Park Jin-man gets the award for strange line of the night. 0-2 with 3 RBI's. He drove in 3 runs all on sacrifices. Way to be a team player. My favorite crummy pitcher, Ahn Ji-man, got the start for Samsung and was pummelled. Ahn lasted 3 innings(69 pitches, 42 strikes), but allowed 5 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks. He did manage 3 K's and 1 crooked cap. Samsung infielder Park Seok-min returned to the lineup and had a solid evening. He hit and RBI double in the 3rd and a solo homer in the 5th. They even walked him in the 9th with a runner in scoring position. I'd really like to see Park get going. He's a fun guy to watch...when he's healthy. With the score tied at 5 in the bottom of the 9th, Samsung turned to Jeong Hyeon-wook to get them to extra innings. He failed. With one out and the bases empty, Lotte left fielder Park Jeong-joon reached on an infield single. The next batter, pinch hitter Lee In-koo singled through the left side to put runners on 1st and 2nd. Then, 1st baseman Kim Joo-chan ripped a double off the wall in left to score Park from 2nd and get Kim beaten up by his teammates.
1 comment:
Regarding the drug testing of foreign players, the article I'd read mentioned that testing for Koreans has been in effect for a number of years. Since the Korean players don't have an organized union, the owners do what ever they want with them. But it was difficult to get the foreigners to agree to testing until they finally decided to force it upon them now, whether they like it or not.
Nope, no foreign discrimination happening on this round.
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